7 Side Hustles You Can Start in 2017

It seems like nowadays everyone wants to start a side hustle. Whether you need to earn some extra money to help paying the bills, or just want some extra cash. A side hustle could be a great way to pay off your student loan debts, or hit your financial goals. Who knows, it might even be something that you already love doing and which could turn into a full-time job! Just keep in mind that some side hustles require extra hours on top of what you’re already doing in your regular job. And of course don’t (always) confuse side hustles with easy hustles!

Online Side Hustles

So you’ve decided to make some extra money online? Quick hint: there’s one universal prerequisite for it, which is that you MUST (or at least should) have a website. In today’s world, creating a website is something that anyone can do with just a little bit of help. If you want to get started, I’ve put together a complete guide on How To Start A Blog in 5 Simple Steps. There are so many ways that you could earn money online, but most of the time, the first step would be to have an online presence, so get started NOW!

1. Blogging

Blogging is a great source if you’re looking for some extra income. There are literally dozens of bloggers out there making a killing while doing what they love, aka blogging. This is not an easy side hustle as it’s all about the long-term and requires extra time and effort. But at the same time it can be so rewarding. Starting a blog takes as little as 15 minutes and if you sign-up with my link you get to have a free domain name as well. I’ve just started monetizing this blog and after only a few months blogging I’m already seeing the benefits of it. And there’s so much more potential if you have what it takes!

If you’re thinking about starting a blog, Bluehost is the best way to get quickly started.

2. Fill Out Online Surveys

There are literally dozens of websites popping up that claim to pay you money for taking surveys online. Basically, there are legit ones and non-legit ones. So far I’ve tried out 2 of them that I can guarantee are above-board, if this is a side hustle you are interested in.

The first one is Survey Junkie. As they state, “you’re not going to get rich from taking surveys”. However, you can get started for free, take their surveys at anytime, from anywhere. After each survey, you will earn points to redeem for either cash into your PayPal account or e-gift cards. The other one I’ve tried and which is doing ok so far is Opinion Outpost. To get started, Opinion Outpost will send you a quick little survey about you. Once you’re all set up, you can start completing surveys and will be paid out in the form of CASH (via PayPal) or via Gift Cards to brands like Amazon and iTunes.

3. Swagbucks & MyPoints

Some companies like Swagbucks or MyPoints will give you cash money or gift cards bywatching videos, playing games, or to tell them what you think about products that you are going to buy anyway. Some only pay a few dollars per survey, but others pay much more. If you already have a computer, you won’t have to spend anything to get started with this side hustle. If you are already doing these things, you may as well get paid for it, right?

4. Ebates & Drop

Ebates is one of my favorite way to make money while shopping online. This is a a company which has partnered with over thousands of online companies to form an affiliate relationship with each of them.

This simply means that Ebates and each online company have created a partnership where Ebates will refer you or anyone else to buy something from them, and that company then sends Ebates a thank-you referral bonus. And then Ebates splits the referral with you and you earn Cash Back. Every time I’m shopping online, I’m starting at Ebates and then I get cash back deposited into my PayPal account. Welcome free money!

Technically not a side hustle by itself, a new player on the field of “Instant Gratification” is the application Drop. Basically you link your credit and debit cards to the app, and then you collect points based off the purchases you made, without anything to do apart from the initial setup. The best part? This is totally cumulative with any incentives you might already have with your cards. These easy-earned points can then be redeemed as gift cards on brands like Amazon, Starbucks, Apple and a lot more. It was first only based in Canada, but since early 2017 it’s now rolling out to the US globally.

5. Get Creative

If you’re a creative person and you’re able to create all kind of creative stuff like logos, social media kits and t-shirts designs, 99 Designs is a great choice. You can submit your own ideas and compete for a buyer.

There’s also Fiverr, which is basically one of the greatest sites in the world. Their tagline: What would you do for $5? You can definitely find some great graphic design side hustles, as well as book covers, articles and website optimization. The limits are simply endless and there is definitely a skill you CAN sell on Fiverr.

Offline Side Hustles

6. Drive for Uber & Lyft

There’s simply no way you haven’t heard yet about Uber. Starting a profitable side hustle with companies like Lyft and Uber has never been so easier and you can definitely make some serious side income (which ranges from $20-$40 per hour) just by driving other people around your city! If you find yourself being free at nights and weekends, just sign-up with Uber or Lyft and get started. I’ve used it so many times and this is definitely the ultimate side hustle to try!

Sign-up to drive with Uber or Lyft and start making money on your own schedule.

7. Rent Extra Room / Rent Your Car

Do you own a home and do you need extra cash each month? If you have one (or more!) extra room in your house, this could be a gold mine for you. You can earn money renting it out to visitors on Airbnb. That’s a wonderful way to make extra money and to meet interesting people from all around the globe at the same time. We’ve been doing it for a couple of years and we have had nothing but positive comments to say about it!

Your car sits idle 93% of the time in case you didn’t know. If you’re not going to need your car for the next couple of days or weeks and in selected areas, you can rent out your car on a daily or hourly basis to earn some extra cash. Companies like Turo (which is basically the *Airbnb for cars*) make the whole process so simple. They also handle all of the insurance part.

While these are just a few ideas from the top of my head, there are so many more ideas of side hustles you could start TODAY! If none of these ideas work for you, just figure out what’s working best for you, and just start. It also doesn’t always have to be lucrative, as in you can just offer to help people not willing to do something in the first place.

In the end, it’s always a matter of “making time” versus “ having time”, because everyone can find some time to start a side hustle, whether it be to make some extra student loan payments or to have some extra cash on hands.

– Vincent

Do you have a favorite Side Hustle? Have you ever tried any of these side hustles?

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